1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to weigh control and metabolic fitness. More particularly, the present invention relates to compositions and methods for increasing desirable microbiota in the human gut and reducing therein undesirable microbiota to achieve a healthy glucose regulation, metabolic fitness, inclusive intestinal health, and a healthy body weight.
2. General Background of the Invention
During the past 5 years a large international effort, called the an Microbiome Project (HMP) by the National Institutes of Health, and known more broadly as the International Human Microbiome Consortium (IHMC), is aimed at characterizing the microbes living in and on our bodies (see http://hmpdacc.org/data_browser.php). In the large intestine an estimated 100 trillion microorganisms reside that appear to play essential roles in metabolizing food, drugs, and dietary supplements that are not absorbed by the upper gastrointestinal (GI) tract. In addition, some of those microorganisms manufacture essential nutrients and vitamins necessary to sustain health. Such microbial interactions in the intestinal environment exert critical roles in signaling metabolic-, behavior-, and immune-regulatory systems of the human host.
The first GI microbiomes to be partially characterized are those obtained in the feces of obese and lean individuals (1, 2). Microbiota of the Firmicutes phylum are in abundance in the feces of obese individuals when compared to that of lean volunteers. Microbiota of the other major division, Bacteroidetes, are more abundant than those of Firmicutes division in lean individuals. Thus, during metabolic diseases such as obesity and diabetes, an imbalance between these 2 dominant groups of bacteria reflecting a wealth of Firmuctes species to Bacteroidetes species (B:F ratio) is one characteristic of individuals with an unhealthy body mass. These findings are confirmed in obese and lean mice (3). Further, sterile mice can be inoculated with microbiomes obtained from human feces of either obese or lean individuals. When fed a standard mouse chow, they either become obese or remain lean depending on the source of their GI microbiota transplant (4). Mice transplanted with human GI microbiota will become obese when fed a chow rich in simple sugars and fat after several weeks. The B:F ratio of those mice is increased when the diet is switched to one low in both fat and sugar but rich in plant polysaccharides (5, 6).
Microbiota belonging to the Bacteriodetes phylum are specialists at transporting and metabolizing carbohydrates (7). They appear to forage on any available carbohydrate in their environment. Most sugars and starches, however, are metabolized by the host and are absorbed by the upper GI. Indigestible (by the host) carbohydrates do make it to the lower GI where they are consumed by members of the Bacteriodetes. The end products of this process are small chain fatty acids (SCFAs) that have health benefits for the host. Many of these indigestible carbohydrates are plant polysaccharides or more commonly called fiber or resistant starch and are classified as prebiotics (8). Microbiomes characterized in the feces of children maintained on a high fiber diet have a greater B:F ratio than those analyzed from feces of children consuming a typical European diet (9).
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